Landslides & Mudslides
The mountain coming down — landslides, mudflows, lahars and rockfalls that buried valleys and villages in minutes.
Part of Natural Disasters
39 moments in this segment.
- — The Goldau landslide. A mountainside collapsed onto the Swiss village of Goldau in 1806, burying it and its people.
- — The 1881 Elm rockslide. A rockslide destroyed part of the village of Elm in Switzerland, killing 115.
- — The Naga and monsoon landslides. Monsoon-soaked hillsides collapse across South and Southeast Asia every year, burying roads and villages.
- — The 1972 Hong Kong landslides. Torrential rain triggered deadly landslides across Hong Kong, including the Kotewall Road collapse.
- — The 1998 Sarno mudslides. Debris flows buried the towns of Sarno and Quindici in southern Italy in 1998, killing over 150.
- — The Hattian Bala landslide. The 2005 Kashmir quake triggered a huge landslide at Hattian Bala that dammed rivers and buried a village.
- — The 2006 Southern Leyte landslide. A rain-soaked mountainside buried the village of Guinsaugon in the Philippines, killing over 1,100.
- — The 2010 Bududa landslide. Landslides buried villages on the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda in 2010.
- — The 2010 Zhouqu mudslide. A massive mudslide buried part of Zhouqu county in Gansu, China, killing over 1,700.
- — The 2010 Zhouqu mudslide. Mudslides swept through Zhouqu in China's Gansu province, killing over 1,700.
- — The 2011 La Paz landslide. A massive slow-moving landslide destroyed neighbourhoods of La Paz, Bolivia.
- — The 1984 Ontake landslide. The 1984 Nagano earthquake triggered a huge debris avalanche off Mount Ontake in Japan.
- — The 2014 Oso mudslide. A massive hillside collapse buried a rural neighbourhood near Oso, Washington, killing 43 — the deadliest landslide in U.S. history.
- — The Badakhshan landslide. A landslide buried much of the village of Aab Barik in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province in 2014.
- — The 2014 Hiroshima landslides. Torrential rain triggered dozens of debris flows across the hills above Hiroshima, Japan, killing 74.
- — The Salgar landslide. A pre-dawn debris flow buried part of Salgar in Colombia's Antioquia in 2015, killing nearly 100.
- — The 1966 Aberfan disaster. A colliery spoil tip collapsed onto a school in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults.
- — The Mocoa landslide. A midnight debris flow buried much of Mocoa in southern Colombia in 2017, killing over 300.
- — The 2017 Freetown mudslide. After days of rain, a mountainside collapsed onto Freetown, Sierra Leone, killing over 1,000.
- — The Montecito debris flow. After the Thomas Fire stripped the hills, a downpour sent a deadly debris flow through Montecito, California.
- — The 2018 Bududa landslides. Landslides again buried villages on Uganda's Mount Elgon in 2018.
- — The thawing permafrost. As Arctic permafrost thaws, the ground slumps and collapses, tearing apart roads, homes and coastlines.
- — The Brumadinho dam disaster. A mining tailings dam collapsed at Brumadinho, Brazil, in 2019, burying workers under a wave of mud, filmed as it happened.
- — The 2020 Hpakant jade mine disaster. A landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar buried scavenging miners, killing over 170.
- — The 1903 Frank Slide. A massive rockslide buried part of the mining town of Frank in Alberta, Canada, in 90 seconds.
- — The Gjerdrum quick-clay slide. A quick-clay landslide swallowed homes in Gjerdrum, Norway, in 2020, killing ten.
- — The Central Asian mudflows. Spring meltwater and quakes send deadly mudflows down the valleys of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan every year.
- — The 2021 Atami mudslide. A debris flow tore through the Japanese resort town of Atami, captured live on video.
- — The 2022 Quito landslide. A mudslide swept through a district of Quito, Ecuador, in 2022 after record rain.
- — The 2022 Petrópolis landslides. Torrential rain triggered landslides that buried parts of Petrópolis, Brazil, killing over 230.
- — The 1963 Vajont Dam disaster. A landslide into the reservoir behind Italy's Vajont Dam sent a wave over the top that destroyed villages below, killing about 2,000.
- — The 1983 Thistle landslide. A slow landslide dammed a river and buried the town of Thistle, Utah — the costliest U.S. landslide.
- — The Stava dam disaster. The collapse of two mine-tailings dams above Stava in Italy sent a wave of mud that killed 268 in 1985.
- — The 2024 Yunnan landslide. A landslide buried a village in China's Yunnan province in the depth of winter in 2024.
- — The 2024 Wayanad landslides. Massive landslides buried villages in Wayanad, Kerala, India, in 2024, killing hundreds.
- — The 1941 Huaraz outburst. A glacial lake outburst destroyed a third of Huaraz, Peru, in 1941, killing thousands.
- — The 1920 Haiyuan landslides. China's Haiyuan earthquake triggered enormous loess landslides that buried villages, killing over 200,000.
- — The Armero tragedy (Nevado del Ruiz). A small eruption of Nevado del Ruiz melted its glacier, sending a lahar that buried the town of Armero, Colombia, killing 23,000.
- — The 1999 Vargas tragedy. Torrential rain triggered flash floods and debris flows down the mountains onto Venezuela's coast, killing an estimated 10,000-30,000.
